The European Commission said on Friday it would fine Elon Musk's social media app X for the equivalent of $140 million, saying it violated the bloc's set of digital rules – a move that is likely to draw the ire of the US government.
The European Commission found that X had breached the Digital Services Act. radical law of 2022 this requires internet companies to aggressively combat hate speech and misinformation.
The law is one of the most far-reaching attempts to combat problematic material on the Internet – requires companies to develop policies and procedures for removing messages that countries in the 27-nation alliance consider illegal.
The punishment drew sharp condemnation from Vice President J.D. Vance even before the European Commission announced it.
“There are rumors that the EU commission will fine X hundreds of millions of dollars for refusing to censor. The EU should support free speech, not attack American companies over garbage,” Vance said. in a post on X on Thursday afternoon.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this. in a post on X that the fine “is not just an attack on @X, it is an attack on all American technology platforms and the American people by foreign governments. The days of censoring Americans on the Internet are over.”
Musk did not immediately respond to NBC News' request for comment, but hours before the European Commission released details of the fine, he shared X post from Preston Byrne, who advocated for a US bill that would allow companies and individuals to sue foreign entities in US court over allegations of foreign censorship.
Called the GRANITE Act and written by Byrne, an attorney and chief compliance officer at a cryptocurrency company, it has been filed or is being considered in several state legislatures but does not appear to have been formally introduced at the federal level.
The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, said its laws do not target any nationality and that it defends its digital and democratic standards.
After the fine was handed down, Henna Virkkunen, the European Commission's technical lead, said it was proportionate and calculated taking into account the nature of the violations, their seriousness in terms of affected EU users and their duration.
“I think it’s very important to emphasize that the DSA has nothing to do with censorship,” Virkkunen told reporters, according to the Associated Press. Upcoming decisions on companies accused of DSA violations are expected to take less time than the two years in the X case, she added.
But Brendan Carr, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, criticized the decision in a post on X. “Europe is once again fining a successful US tech company for being a successful US tech company,” he wrote. “Europe taxes Americans to subsidize a continent held back by Europe’s own stifling rules.”
The proposed fine was in the works nearly two years ago after regulators said at the end of 2023 that they had filed a case against X for allegedly failing to combat disinformation and content manipulation. X was the first company to face such an investigation when the investigation began.
Regulators initially said the proceedings involved several issues, including estimated distribution illegal content “in the context of Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel” and the suspicion that X had a “deceptive intent” in distributing blue verification checks to paying users.
Musk is the richest man in the world by some standardsHe has had a rocky relationship with European leaders, even beyond the X investigation. In January, the leaders of four European countries, including France and Germany, condemned his influence and warned that Musk should not interfere in the internal politics of his countries.
Musk, former close associate President Donald Trumphelped spark the wave far right candidates throughout Europe and globealthough many of its candidates failed to achieve victory.
X can appeal the commission's findings in the European courts.
In April, after rumors spread that the commission was about to fine X, the company said it was ready to fight.
“If reports that the European Commission is considering enforcement action against X are correct, this represents an unprecedented act of political censorship and an attack on freedom of expression,” the company said. in a post on X.
“X has made every effort to comply with the EU Digital Services Act and we will use all options at our disposal to protect our business, ensure the safety of our users and protect freedom of speech in Europe,” the company said.
